Electroactive polymer actuators for active optical components

Price, Aaron D.; Naguib, Hani E.; Amara, Foued Ben

doi:10.1177/1045389x14557505

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…17]) and the book edited by [20]. Some recent research interest includes the use of an encased ionic fluid and/or the fluid within which the DE robot swims [26,63], non-linear springs coupled to DE for enhanced actuation [40,41], lab-on-a-chip devices for peristaltic pumps [111], haptic feedback [91] and cell stretchers [92], optical applications (including tunable grating, lenses, laser speckle reducers, and tunable windows) [37,93,107], coupling actuators with piezoresistive switches [42], and hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators (HASEL) [1]. The latter use a contained fluid dielectric that is pumped out from between the electrode plates.…”

Section: Dielectric Elastomer Eap Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators—background review

2019

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Certain polymers can be excited by electric, chemical, pneumatic, optical, or magnetic field to change their shape or size. For convenience and practical actuation, using electrical excitation is the most attractive stimulation method and the related materials are known as electroactive polymers (EAP) and artificial muscles. One of the attractive applications that are considered for EAP materials is biologically inspired capabilities, i.e., biomimetics, and successes have been reported that previously were considered science fiction concepts. Today, there are many known EAP materials. Some of the EAP materials also exhibit the reverse effect of converting mechanical strain to electrical signal allowing using them as sensors and energy harvesters. Efforts are made worldwide to turn EAP materials to actuators-of-choice and they involve developing their scientific and engineering foundations including the understanding of their operation principles. These are also involve developing effective computational chemistry models, comprehensive material science, and electro-mechanics analytical tools. These efforts have been leading to better understanding the parameters that control their capability and durability. Moreover, effective processing techniques are developed for their fabrication, shaping, electroding, and characterization. While progress have been reported in the research and development of all the types of EAP materials, the trend in recent years has been growing towards significant development in using dielectric elastomers.These characteristics are making them highly attractive for use in muscle-like actuators. Some are biologically inspired (i.e., biomimetic applications) [8,9,11], and all can function without hard metallic gears and mechanisms. Examples of the applications of EAP actuators include a polypyrrole fish [71], ionic polymer-metal composite robot fish [23], miniature dielectric elastomer grippers for satellites [5], ionic conductor loudspeakers [51], an electrostrictive polymer catheter [35], a haptic interface [32], active braille displays [9], a fish-like blimp [45], static electric rotary motors [3], worm-like robots [46], a crawling robot with no hard electronics [42], facial animatronic devices [11], optical devices [107], biomedical devices, microfluidic devices, and even a wearable device to assist eyelid blinking [103]. The impressive improvements in the field [52,68] are increasingly attracting the interest of engineers and scientists from many different disciplines.Many EAP actuators are still emerging and need further advancement in order for them to form part of mass-produced products. This requires the use of computational chemistry models, comprehensive material science, electro-mechanic analytical tools, and material processing research. To maximize their actuation capability and durability, effective fabrication, shaping, and electroding techniques are being developed. In addition, techniques of characterizing their response as well as documenting them in databases and related ...

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Section: Dielectric Elastomer Eap Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators—background review

2019

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“…Trilayers based on CPs deposited on PVDF or PEDOT/IPN/PEDOT trilayers can be swollen with ionic liquids or other salts dissolved in different electrolytes to function in air as a sensor (e.g. 0.1 M LiTFSI in propylene carbonate [ 66 – 68 ]). Stiffness, deflection, current and frequency response are tailored by varying length, width and thickness.…”

Section: Ionic Electroactive Polymers For Sensingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroactive polymers for sensing

et al. 2016

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Electromechanical coupling in electroactive polymers (EAPs) has been widely applied for actuation and is also being increasingly investigated for sensing chemical and mechanical stimuli. EAPs are a unique class of materials, with low-moduli high-strain capabilities and the ability to conform to surfaces of different shapes. These features make them attractive for applications such as wearable sensors and interfacing with soft tissues. Here, we review the major types of EAPs and their sensing mechanisms. These are divided into two classes depending on the main type of charge carrier: ionic EAPs (such as conducting polymers and ionic polymer–metal composites) and electronic EAPs (such as dielectric elastomers, liquid-crystal polymers and piezoelectric polymers). This review is intended to serve as an introduction to the mechanisms of these materials and as a first step in material selection for both researchers and designers of flexible/bendable devices, biocompatible sensors or even robotic tactile sensing units.

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“…The interest in the field of flexible and transparent electroactive polymers (EAPs) has evolved dramatically due to their successful application in optical and electronic devices [21][22][23][24]. Since then, varieties of smart intelligent materials have been synthesized and relevant optical property tuning techniques have been developed [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of solvent-free green PVC gel based varifocal micro-lens

Shin¹,

Shimoga²,

Park³

et al. 2020

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Environmental issues are being addressed more intensely in today's and future society. Concerning to this, the term 'solvent-free' conjures up a wide variety of innovations amongst the scientific community. Thus, it is necessary to develop environmentally benign green approaches in design engineering. In this communication, we reported the fabrication of solvent-free green polyvinyl chloride (gPVC) gel based electroactive varifocal micro-lens, which can dynamically tune its focal length under the applied input voltage. To develop gPVC gels, PVC powder was thermally treated by mixing stoichiometric quantity of an eco-friendly green plasticizer, acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC). To obtain better control over the tunable optical properties, various gPVC gels were characterized and optimized gel was investigated. Consequently, gPVC gel with ATBC to PVC (15:1) ratio have showed an outstanding performance. Under the electrical stimulation, the focal length of the proposed lens has been demonstrated in a controlled manner. The results revealed that, the proposed varifocal micro-lens could change its focal length ~27.5 mm and will be a valuable asset for the future consumer electronic equipment.

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Electroactive polymer actuators for active optical components

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators—background review

Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators—background review

Electroactive polymers for sensing

Development of solvent-free green PVC gel based varifocal micro-lens

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